Cartoon engraving entitled ‘The Political Cartoon for the year 1774’ from the ‘Westminster Magazine’. Artist unknown. The ‘Westminster Magazine’ was printed in London, England by T. Wright, Essex Street, Strand, and sold by J. Bew, Paternoster-Row; and other booksellers in Great-Britain and Ireland, 1776-1783. Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Cartoon Prints, British.
Visual description
George III, and Lord Chief Justice, Lord William Mansfield are shown riding in horse-drawn carriage towards the edge of a cliff. Behind the carriage, a man stands holding a collection of papers saying: ‘places’, ‘pensions’ and ‘reversions’ The horses are labelled ‘Pride’ and ‘Obstinacy’ and gallop over the British constitution and Magna Carta. The king holds a document which says: ‘I glory in the name of Englishman.’ A winged mythical creature with the head and body of a man and the ears and tail of a horse or goat flies above holding a heavy bag labelled ‘National Credit’. ‘America’ is shown in flames in the distance across a stretch of water.
- Why do you think George III and Lord Chief Justice, Lord William Mansfield are shown riding in horse-drawn carriage towards the edge of a cliff?
- What perspective does this cartoon infer about the relationship between Britain and the American colonies?
- Why are references made in the cartoon to the ‘Constitution’ and ‘Magna Carta’?
- How does this source relate to sources 6a & 6b?
- What is the value of this cartoon for historians for the American Revolution?
- How does the content of this cartoon relate to the ‘snake’ cartoon that illustrates this lesson?